This invention relates generally to an information storage library and more specifically to the detection of correct orientation of cartridges during insertion into information storage libraries.
Information storage libraries require that the cartridges be correctly aligned when placed into the input/output station. There is the possibility that the operator could input a cartridge into the library input/output station in the incorrect orientation. The library then is unable to access that particular cartridge until the operator intervenes and correctly orients the tape cartridge. The prior art system did not detect the incorrectly oriented cartridge until an attempt was made to have the accessor withdraw the cartridge from the input/output station and the incorrect orientation was detected. The incorrect orientation made the cartridge absolutely unusable to the system and the processing of the data on that cartridge would have to wait for the intervention of the operator to correctly orient the cartridge.
In some prior art system, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. 5,963,514, issued to Kanutsuki, et al, on Oct. 5, 1999 and entitled, xe2x80x9cAccessor Position Alignment In A Library Apparatusxe2x80x9d, a reference flag was used that is read by a sensor on the accessor side of the tape library to detect the absolute position of the cartridge to verify the correct positioning for the operation of the accessor to insert or extract the cartridge. The use of the reference flag in the diagnostic cell ensured the error correction and what is called the initial step or initial operation to allow the accessor to carry out the insertion or extraction of the cartridge correctly into the reading station. This prior art required the accessor to access the cartridge in order to detect the incorrect positioning.
Other detection systems also required that the cartridge be initially detected by the accessor before the incorrect positioning is detected. In the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin of March, 1994 at Pages 205-6, a laser bar-code scanner is used to detect cartridges that are placed upside down in the library. The bar-code reader on the accessors scans the tape cartridge label and detects whether the label is being read with a forward scan or a backward scan. The knowledge of the label orientation allows the automated tape library system to know if the cartridge label is upside down or right-side up. The automated tape library can then take appropriate action if the label is upside down. This action is to allow access to the cartridge by the operator. But as in other prior art systems, the cartridge must first be accessed by the library system before the error is detected.
There is an ongoing need for the immediate detection of the incorrect orientation of a cartridge in a system library without the system going through an operation to detect the incorrectly oriented cartridge and then requiring the operator to correctly orient the cartridge.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a means for immediately detecting the incorrect orientation of a cartridge in an information storage library.
Another object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a means for the operator to immediately detect the incorrect orientation of the cartridge when the cartridge is being placed into the information storage library.
The present invention has been developed with a view of eliminating the problems of the prior art, and is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a system library apparatus which is capable of ensuring the correct insertion of cartridges into the system by an operator and for the operator to immediately detect the incorrect orientation and correct the error before the system attempts to use the data from that cartridge within the data processing system.
In most library storage systems, an input/output station is provided for the insertion of cartridges that are to be used within the library system for either adding data to the cartridges or extracting data from the cartridges for use within the data processing system. The standard library apparatus includes an input/output station which has a door which an operator swings open to allow access by the operator for insertion of cartridges into the input/output station. The door according to the present invention is pivotally mounted to the station through cams that pivotally rotate a toggle bracket having fingers, one for each cartridge cell in the input/output station. Each cartridge used at least in the input/output station includes a cartridge orientation indicator in the form of a recess at one edge of each cartridge. After inserting the cartridges into the cells of the input/output station, the door is closed rotating the toggle bracket and its fingers into the recess of each cartridge. The door will close if all of the cartridges have the recess correctly oriented to permit the fingers to clear the cartridges. If any one or more of the cartridges are incorrectly inserted into the cell of the station, the toggle bracket fingers will not clear the cartridges and the open toggle bracket blocks the closure of the door thereby preventing further operation of the input/output station until all cartridges placed in the station are correctly inserted. The failure to close is also immediately detectable by the operator.
The toggle bracket fingers are positioned to sense the cartridge orientation indicator, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cartridge recess area, and to prevent the door from closing if the toggle finger does not find that the recess is oriented correctly which signifies that the cartridge was inserted incorrectly. The jamming of the toggle finger prevents the toggle bracket from closing to its home position which in turn prevents the door from closing fully and, therefore, signals to the operator that the cartridge was not oriented correctly. The operator can then reopen the input/output station to allow the operator to correctly orient the cartridge without requiring that the system perform an accessing operation before the detection of the incorrectly oriented cartridge is noticed. The rotation of the toggle bracket further blocks the space on the robotics side of the mechanism for the accessor from removing the cartridges for use within the system by taking the cartridge to the read/write station. The door to the input/output system in the present invention does not need to rotate to become the cartridge stop point as in prior art systems. The toggle bracket takes on that function permitting the input/output mechanism to occupy less of the working area in the robotics section. With the present invention there is no need for the library system accessor to complete a cycle to scan for a correctly oriented cartridge label or for that matter to detect an empty cell since the invention does not permit the closing of the input/output door and, therefore, immediately signals to the operator that the cartridge was inserted incorrectly and needs reorientation. The operator can immediately reorient the cartridge, close the door, and immediately process the data on the cartridge in the first accessor pass.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.